https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/02/07/ev-sales-plummet-after-clean-car-discount-scrapped/ Close * Donate * Subscribe * Sign In Search for: [ ] Search * NewsroomPro * News * Politics * Business * Sustainable Future * Investigations * Opinion * LockerRoom * ReadingRoom * Puzzles * Facebook Page * Twitter Username * Instagram * YouTube [newsroom-logo-white-1024x188] * Donate * Subscribe Search [ ] * NewsroomPro * News * Politics * Business * Sustainable Future * Investigations * Opinion * LockerRoom * ReadingRoom * Puzzles --------------------------------------------------------------------- * Podcasts * Video * Newsletters * About Newsroom * Contact Us * Support Newsroom's Journalism * My Donor Account --------------------------------------------------------------------- * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * YouTube Close [newsroom-logo-white-1024x188] * Donate * Subscribe Search [ ] * NewsroomPro * News * Politics * Business * Sustainable Future * Investigations * Opinion * LockerRoom * ReadingRoom * Puzzles --------------------------------------------------------------------- * Podcasts * Video * Newsletters * About Newsroom * Contact Us * Support Newsroom's Journalism * My Donor Account --------------------------------------------------------------------- * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * YouTube Skip to content * Facebook Page * Twitter Username * Instagram * YouTube Newsroom Newsroom Quality worth making room for * Donate * Subscribe * Sign In Open Search Search for: [ ] Search Donate Menu Sign In * NewsroomPro * News * Politics * Business * Sustainable Future * Investigations * Opinion * LockerRoom * ReadingRoom * Puzzles Posted inClimate Change EV sales plummet after clean car scheme scrapped An EV advocate says sales levels are 'exceptionally unlikely' to return to 2023 levels by the end of the year and there could be 300,000 fewer clean cars on the road by the end of the decade as a result [vY1ntCyuHw] by Marc Daalder 07/02/202407/02/2024 Share this: * Share * * Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) * Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) * Click to share on X (Opens in new window) * Click to print (Opens in new window) * Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) * [FNRSooSRMWHHPi6P58zu-1-scaled] Electric vehicle sales have crashed in January, with battery vehicles seeing their lowest number of registrations in more than three years. Photo: Supplied Sustainable Future in association with [logo-hyundai] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Electric vehicles have fallen from one in four new vehicles purchased in 2023 to one in 26 in the first month of this year, after the Government scrapped the Clean Car Discount. Just 352 battery electric cars were registered in January, alongside 308 plug-in hybrids. While sales of clean vehicles skyrocketed in December to get in ahead of the end of the rebates, those figures are still well below average for the previous year as well. Plug-in hybrids haven't had a month that bad since January 2022. For battery vehicles, you have to go back to October 2020 to find a month where fewer were registered. read more Climate Change Ending EV subsidies equal to extra year of Huntly coal burning Climate Change Government quietly defunds transport climate work Kirsten Corson, the chair of advocacy group Drive Electric, said the demise of the Clean Car Discount was largely to blame. "It's definitely linked to the Clean Car Discount going," she said. Some people have also brought forward their EV or plug-in purchases, which means levels could rise a little in a few months - but she thinks they'll remain well below 2023 sales levels for a long while to come. "We will see low EV sales for a while. Whatever you think of the Clean Car Discount policy, it really worked. In 2018, 2 percent of new car sales were electric. Last year, we were 27 percent," she said. "If you look internationally, all of the key markets that have EV growth, it's because they've got incentives. China took their incentives away and then they put them back in place. If you look at Germany, they've removed their incentives and seen a 50 percent reduction in EV sales." It was "exceptionally unlikely" that EV sales would return to 2023 levels by the end of the year. A report commissioned from Concept Consulting in December by Drive Electric suggested that, without the Clean Car scheme, there could be 100,000 to 300,000 fewer EVs on the road in 2030. One in five cars on the road at the end of the decade would be an EV if the Clean Car Discount stayed, dropping to one in 10 if it was scrapped. Transport Minister Simeon Brown said the decline in sales was expected. "The car-buying behaviour demonstrated by registrations in December and January wasn't unexpected given the Government's decision to scrap the ute tax and end the subsidies for EVs," he said. "The reality is that the Clean Car Discount Scheme was unaffordable with taxpayers forking out hundreds of millions of dollars of subsidies to people buying EVs, while farmers and tradies were being punished by the ute tax despite having very few alternatives. As of 31 December 2023, more than $636 million has been spent on the scheme, while just over $297 million has been collected in charges. This has left taxpayers facing around a $339 million deficit." Brown said price wasn't the barrier for used vehicle uptake, supply was. "For new EVs there have been significant falls in the retail prices of EVs in New Zealand. When the scheme was introduced, the cheapest EV available had a retail price of around $65,000. Now a similar new EV can be purchased for around $44,500." Corson said this was the wrong way to look at it. The used vehicle market comes not just from imports but also from company fleets originally purchased new. Those companies now have less incentive to purchase electric vehicles, which turns down yet another tap of clean cars into the secondhand market. "What Simeon often says is that EVs are becoming cheaper. He's absolutely right about that - we've seen in the last 10 years EVs reduce in price by $16,000 internationally. However, we're not predicted to get to price parity with [internal combustion engine] vehicles by 2030," she said. "The big barrier is a higher capital cost. If you think about New Zealand and a just transition, the reality is if the majority of Kiwis buy a car that's worth around $7000, they're not going to be buying electric for a very long time unless we can create that secondhand market." Join the Conversation 2 Comments 1. Avatar photoJohn Barnett says: 07/02/2024 at 6:09 pm When the $7000 rebate was introduced into NZ, every EV manufacturer increased the price of their vehicles from the factory by the equivalent sum. The significant drop in new sales following the Rebate removal, will shortly be matched by a reduction in the ex-factory price, and the NZ market price will fall without costing manufacturers any revenue. The seemingly lower NZ price will bring buyers back into the market. The Rebate offered by the previous Govt 'looked like a good idea' but in actuality only increased the manufacturer's revenues. Own goal? Log in to Reply 1. Avatar photoKirsten Corson says: 08/02/2024 at 9:59 am Thanks John we did see that initially in the second hand import market but that corrected over time as the demand for EV's increased. The reality that the $80K cap on incentives meant that Manufacturers reduced their prices to meeting the CCD cap examples of that are Polestar, Hyundai Ioniq 5, VW ID4, BMW iX1, Ford Mach e all created entry level cars to get the incentives. Prices on majority of those will now increase. We have also see significant price reductions from Tesla over this CCD period. 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